THE GENDER DIMENSION OF SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION - Asian Development Bank

I.INTRODUCTIONThe past 40 years saw the great economic revival of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). After a longperiod of extensive growth, but with high pollution and resource extraction, the PRC is now undergoinga phase of transformation focusing on environment-friendly and sustainable development. Building an“ecological civilization” has been reiterated in the 17th, 18th, and 19th National Congress of the PRC’sCommunist Party. Minimizing energy consumption and pollution emission are continuously endorsedin the National Council’s yearly report. As a stand-alone goal in the United Nations (UN) 2030Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), sustainable consumption and production (SCP) plays a keyrole in promoting policy design that aims to influence individual awareness, attitudes, and behaviorstoward a sustainable lifestyle.Sustainable Development Goal 12 (SDG 12) describes SCP as promoting increased human well-being,while decoupling economic growth from resource use and environmental degradation. Based onmicrosurveys conducted in the PRC over the past 2 decades, individual preference among men andwomen toward various SCP topics in household consumption, environment protection, industrialpollution, and human–nature relationship was investigated. Data suggest that women, in general,appear to have higher social preference for SCP; stronger action; and on average, more pro-environmentbehaviors in the fields they are familiar with. However, women—regardless of education, rural–urbansetting, or age—also appear constrained toward further action and are impacted by time poverty; lowpolitical participation; limited awareness; gender norms; and, for younger and older women, financiallimitations.The rest of the paper is organized as follows: section II looks at SCP and remaining gender gaps in thePRC, section III focuses on data, section IV focuses on individual consumption, section V focuses onproduction and social awareness, section VI summarizes findings while citing three conflict areas thataffect women’s action and impact on SCP, and section VII provides recommendations. Section VIIIconcludes.II. SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTIONAND GENDER GAPS IN THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINAAs a stand-alone goal in the 2030 SDGs, SCP seeks to satisfy the basic needs of the current generation,minimize harmful impact on nature, and guarantee the needs of future generations. Global extraction ofnatural resources reached 92.1 billion tons in 2017, a 254% increase from the 1970 level, and is expected torise to 190 billion tons in 2060, in the absence of coordinated political action (UN, 2019). With the planet’slimited resources, it is now both necessary and urgent to design and implement SCP policies globally.SCP has gained growing attention in the PRC, whose economy has been booming for over 4 decades,with the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita skyrocketing since 1978. However, growth has beenhighly reliant on natural resources, with increased pollutant emission at both the household and industrylevels. The Government of the PRC has been implementing SCP policies since the late 1970s (Wang andZheng, 2018). The transformation has been effective from a macro perspective. Figure 1 illustrates thatthe total energy consumption and production per capita has been stabilizing in recent years, and theenergy structure is changing from being coal-dominated to include a growing share of renewable sources(renewables). Figure 2 shows the downward trend in total air and water pollution recorded after 2015.

2ADB East Asia Working Paper Series No. 32Total investment in pollution control jumps almost tenfold from 2000, with the annual growth rate evenhigher than GDP growth. Strong intervention is also seen in the urban domestic waste clearance ratio,which rises continuously and is now close to 100%.Figure 1: Consumption and Production of Energy Per Capita, 0200520102015consumptionCrude consumption1001000kg of standard coal200030003000Total Energy20002005yearproduction20102015consumptionkg kilogram, KWh kilowatt-hour.Source: National Bureau of Statistics (People’s Republic of China).At the micro level, SCP policies are increasingly moving toward directly affecting the lifestyle ofindividual residents, which is more complex and difficult to observe and regulate than industrial firmsand government agencies. In 2019, the Ministry of Housing and Urban–Rural Development launchedcompulsory garbage classification in 46 major cities across the PRC (China Daily, 2019). The policy soonresulted in a high number of complaints on social media, especially in Shanghai where people complainedabout the long waiting time for garbage disposal, as the city generates huge amounts of residual waste(19,300 tons) and kitchen waste (5,050 tons) every day (South China Morning post [SCMP], 2019a).Wildlife trade provides another example. After the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)pandemic, which originated from the consumption of undomesticated civet cat (Xu et al., 2004; Wenhuiet al., 2006; Shi and Hu, 2007), the PRC government banned wildlife trade across the country (Reuters,2007). Nonetheless, a survey conducted by the United States Agency for International Development(USAID) in 2018 in six major cities in the PRC revealed persistent demand from wildlife consumers.The report shows that 68% of respondents who purchased pangolin in the past 12 months say they willcontinue to buy in the future (USAID, 2018). The high demand has killed more than a million pangolinssince 2004 and deteriorated the ecological balance in their habitat (SCMP, 2019b). Environmentunfriendly individual lifestyles gradually become a major obstacle toward further reform.

The Gender Dimension of Sustainable Consumption and Production3Figure 2: Pollution and Pollution ControlAir Pollution510kg of standard coal7065million tons20157525Sewage an Domestic Waste200820052010year20152020%8070160200180billion yuan40060090million tons200220240Investment in Pollution 102012yearvolume of clearance201420162018ratio of clearancekg kilogram, NOx nitrogen oxide, SO2 sulfur dioxide.Source: National Bureau of Statistics (People’s Republic of China).Clearly, in-depth engagement at the individual level is required to sustain SCP in the PRC. Effective policyneeds to involve citizens and pay special attention to the segments and cohorts that could help in theimplementation of SCP actions. In this case, women, especially those belonging to younger generations,become a key social group. Experiment-based studies find that women, on average, tend to be moresocially aware and altruistic (Marianne, 2011; Funk and Gathmann, 2015; Alesina and Giuliano, 2011).The younger generation usually shows increasing concern toward the environment (Wray-Lake et al.,2010), which make them likely to support and adopt an eco-conscious lifestyle. It would then be goodto find out whether women’s preference could transform into better overall awareness, attitudes, andbehaviors toward SCP.In this case, gender inequality cannot be ignored for it may cause omitted variable bias. Due to thepervasive gender gap across time, region, birth cohorts, and major dimensions of socioeconomic life, theobserved differences between men and women may come from gender gaps in wage and social status,instead of their preference toward SCP. Women with higher social preference for SCP may not exhibithigher social awareness due to inadequate financial and political resources. In the PRC, the gender wagegap is as high as 39% in favor of men and only 6.5% of ministerial positions are taken by women (WorldEconomic Forum, 2020). While the PRC has made impressive progress toward gender equality in thepast decades, it has also slipped in the ranks of the Gender Gap Index compared with other countries.The PRC ranked 63rd out of 115 countries in 2006, and in 2020 slipped to 106th out of 153 countries,with major gender gaps in economic participation and political empowerment (World Economic Forum,2006 and 2020).

4ADB East Asia Working Paper Series No. 32To rule out bias, gender gaps in terms of economic and social status need to be understood. Traditionalresearch interprets the gender gap in terms of human capital—differences in wages (gender wage gap),occupation, and economic well-being are then linked to differences in human capital (Altonji and Blank,1999). However, as women quickly catch up with men in terms of educational attainment, especially inthe PRC where women, on average, perform better than men in tertiary education, the human capitalapproach cannot sufficiently explain why women still earn significantly less than men.Another way to explain the remaining gap is through gender role and social discrimination (Altonjiand Blank, 1999). Despite strong gender equality policies in the past decades, gender roles continueto influence individual identities and behavioral patterns. To explore this further, Figure 3 plots somespecific questions from the Chinese General Social Survey (2010 and 2015) concerning gender rolesin the PRC, with a focus on individual ability, career, employment rights, and family. Data indicatethat attitudes are stable over time and relatively old cohorts born before 1970s are less supportive ofcareer‑oriented women.The impact of social norms on gender roles can also be seen through gender-specific attitudes inpolitical participation, which is the major source of gender inequality in the PRC according to the WorldEconomic Forum Gender Gap Index (World Economic Forum, 2006 and 2020). Figure 4 plots fourquestions concerning people’s perception regarding the complexity of public affairs, their own capabilityof political participation, ability to work as a government official, and self-perception on influence inFigure 3: Perception of Gender Roles, 2010 and 2015.25.5agree.751Male should concentrate on career while female on family1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 19901930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 199020102015Male00.25.5agree.751Male is born with higher ability than female1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 19902010Female1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 19902015MaleFemaleMarrying a good husband is more importantthan getting a good career.251930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 19901930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 ire female employee first when the economy is bad1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 199020101930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 19902015MaleFemaleNote: First row of x axis is birth cohort, second row is observation year. Y axis 0 is “totally disagree,” while 1 is “totally agree.”Source: Chinese General Social Survey, 2010 and 2015.

The Gender Dimension of Sustainable Consumption and Production5public policy. A gap exists for all birth cohorts in that women appear less confident in public and politicalaffairs. However, the younger generation tends to show a smaller gap than older cohorts.Another perspective focuses on the difference in psychological perceptions of men and women (Crosonand Gneezy, 2009). This approach proposes that gender gaps might stem from differences in risk- andcompetition-averse attitudes between men and women (Eckel and Grossman, 2008; Niederle andVesterlund, 2007). Such approaches have also suggested that women may show social awarenessand altruistic tendencies (Marianne, 2011), or more pro-redistribution attitudes than men (Funk andGathmann, 2015; Alesina and Giuliano, 2011). It should be noted that such studies have not beenconducted in an Asian context.Although few policies have been implemented which specifically addresses the role of women’s rolein SCP, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Strategy 2030 emphasizes the integration of women intosustainable development through enhanced access to green jobs, climate-smart technologies, andparticipation in climate-related decision-making (ADB, 2018). ADB is committed to sustainability,Figure 4: Political Participation.25.5agree.751I am capable of political .5agree.751Public affairs is too complex for me to 5agree.751I have no influence on public policy1I am capable of working as government 0FemaleNotes: X-axis is birth cohort. Vertical axis is the measure whether individual agrees with the statement, 0 agree, 1 willing,0.5 indifferent.Source: Chinese General Social Survey, 2010.

6ADB East Asia Working Paper Series No. 32while gender equality is a corporate operational priority. Finding a connection between the two areascan be a challenge; rigorous studies linking gender and SCP are rare; less so specific to the case of thePRC. Xiao and Hong (2010) found that women in the PRC tend to demonstrate greater participationin environment-friendly behaviors inside the home, but a comprehensive link with SCP is not explicitlystated. Exploring this link is a key contribution of this paper.Next, an explanation of the data set and the empirical specification is provided before moving on to dataanalysis. The hypothesis derived from literature review is then tested, that (i) women have higher socialpreference toward SCP, but (ii) gender gaps in the economic and political spheres can hinder women’saction and impact toward SCP.III. DATAData sets linking gender with SCP are rare, especially at the level of individual behaviors. The ChineseGeneral Social Survey (CGSS) conducted by Renmin University of China since 2003 is one of theearliest countrywide comprehensive microsurveys. It is a repeated cross-sectional data set that samplesa representative group across the PRC at each projected year. To its merit, CGSS is the only microsurveythat provides detailed (and connected) information about people’s attitudes toward gender roles, genderinequality, social and political participation, environment protection, and sustainable growth. Moreover,the 2010 CGSS survey was conducted within the International Social Survey Programme environmentalmodule. Another data set employed is the Chinese Family Panel Studies (CFPS), conducted by theInstitute of Social Science Survey of Peking University. Started in 2010, this biyearly panel data set coversa wide range of social, economic, and political issues for individuals and households. The 2005 minicensus from the National Bureau of Statistics of the PRC is also used for supplementary illustration.Table 1 provides summary statistics for the yearly CGSS and CFPS surveys.Table 1: Summary Statistics of Data SetsChinese General Social SurveySurvey YearSample SizeShare of WomenAverage Education YearAverage AgeAverage Income (yuan)Chinese Family Panel StudiesSurvey YearSample SizeShare of WomenAverage Education YearAverage AgeAverage 39Source: Authors.Gender would be the key variable to distinguish the performance of individuals, with other variablesconsidered, including age, education, income, and urban–rural disparity. These factors are of interestfor two reasons. First, technically they may be intersected with gender and cause-omitted variable

The Gender Dimension of Sustainable Consumption and Production7bias. Second, they can enrich understanding of the link between gender and SCP, and provide possiblemethods for policy interventions. Rigorous regression specification is discussed and supplementaryregression tables are provided in the Appendix. The most important tables and figures are included inthe main text for simplicity, while tables in the Appendix provide supporting evidence.IV.CONSUMPTION BEHAVIORSConsumption is the direct demonstration of individual preference. In the PRC, a transformation towardSCP will need to address people’s consumption habits, which are relatively stable, hard to change, andhard to regulate. There are four priority consumption areas of interest: food, energy, mobility, and wastedisposal. Although the data sets that can link SCP and gender are extremely rare, concrete behaviors weredefined in these four priority consumption areas and their related fields, enabling analysis and discussion.Specific topics range from concrete behaviors like meat consumption, fuel use, smoking, recycling, garbagesorting, shopping bag reuse, environmental donation, and choice of transportation to abstract attitudes suchas consumption attitudes toward environmental protection and “consumption sensitivity.”A. Meat ConsumptionMeat is a basic food for Chinese families. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)(2016), livestock supply chains contribute to 14.5% of total greenhouse gas emissions, amounting to7.1 gigatons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year. In the PRC, pork is the primary meat consumed and its percapita intake is consistently around 15 kilograms (kg) to 20 kg per year for individual urban residents,and almost doubled for rural residents from 7.3 kg in 1980 to 14.4 kg in 2012, according to data from theNational Bureau of Statistics. Figure 5 plots the frequency of meat consumption per week according togender as well as birth cohorts. Women tend to eat meat less frequently than men in all birth cohorts.Figure 5: Frequency of Meat Consumption Per WeekMeat Eating Frequency per 000FemaleNote: Horizontal axis is the birth cohort, e.g., “1930” indicates the cohort born from 1930 to 1939.Source: Chinese Family Panel Study, 2010.

8ADB East Asia Working Paper Series No. 32The gap is statistically robust and economically significant after controlling for education, income, age,and rural–urban disparity (Table B2). If assumed further that women, on average, eat less per meal,which is supported by the difference in suggested calorie intake per day (NHS, 2019), this indicates thatwomen eat meat not only less frequently, but also less in quantity.B.Cooking FuelThe type of fuel used for cooking provides another approach to find out whether household consumptioncontributes to pollutant emission. However, in terms of fuel usage within the family, it is difficult todistinguish between household preference and individual preference. Therefore, we choose a specificgroup of people, the divorced urban residents, to identify the preference of individual men and womenby using the 1% mini-census data at year 2005. Comparatively, they are more likely to live by themselvesand thus have more decision-making power on fuel usage. Figure 6 plots the major fuel used for cookingfor the urban residents who are divorced. Of these residents, 10% more women use gas, while 10% moremen use coal. As gas is considere

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), sustainable consumption and production (SCP) plays a key role in promoting policy design that aims to influence individual awareness, attitudes, and behaviors toward a sustainable lifestyle. Sustainable Development Goal 12 (SDG 12) describes SCP as promoting increased human well-being,